One of the jewels in China's cultural crown, the sprawling complex in the heart of the capital already gets tens of thousands of real-life visitors each day. But now online tourists can also watch the Qing dynasty emperor feast at dinner, train fighting crickets and feed them with blood-fattened mosquitoes, or practice archery with the help of a courtesan.

BEIJING (Reuters)
- Culture fans thousands of miles from Beijing can now visit its famous
Forbidden City, through a three dimensional recreation of the vast
palace that also allows them to dress up as an imperial eunuch and meet
a courtesan.

One of the jewels in China's cultural crown, the sprawling complex
in the heart of the capital already gets tens of thousands of real-life
visitors each day.

But now online tourists can also watch the Qing dynasty emperor
feast at dinner, train fighting crickets and feed them with
blood-fattened mosquitoes, or practice archery with the help of a
courtesan.

At the virtual palace, unveiled on Friday, they can also dress up as part of the huge imperial entourage.

"When you enter the Forbidden City you choose one of nine historical
costumes, which is to give a sense of history but also keep a sense of
decorum," said John Tolva, program manager at IBM who led the project,
dubbed "Beyond Space and Time."

"You can't run and you can't fly," he added, a restriction that aims
to prevent other virtual visitors, whom you can see and interact with,
being distracted.

The program does not shy away from the racier sides of imperial
history, shaped in part by the legions of eunuchs who controlled
portions of court life and could rise to great power.

"One of the costumes you can chose is a eunuch," said IBM Vice
President Paula W. Baker -- though to spare blushes that avatar is only
labeled "imperial servant."

They also appear in some of the bureaucratic roles they might have filled hundreds of years ago.

"There are eunuchs, for instance in the 'approving imperial memorials' scenes," Tolva added.

Those who are interested in other intimate aspects of the emperor's
life have a chance to get an up close look at the women chosen to serve
him.

"There is a painting being done of the emperor and the courtesans
are there, orbiting about tending to him while the painter does his
job," Tolva said.

"And for all the activities where you actually do something there is an attendant who is styled as a courtesan."

The museum hopes the program (www.beyondspaceandtime.com), which is
based on computer gaming software, will earn new fans for a cultural
landmark which survived China's tumultuous 20th century in remarkably
good form.

It has been over three years in the making and cost over $3 million, provided by IBM as part of a community program.

Exacting curators feel the result offers a good introduction to the
palace, but worry there has been a certain sacrifice of historical
accuracy for the convenience of a modern visitor.

"You wouldn't have been able to just wander around like this," said
Hu Chui, director of the Information Department, gesturing at a soldier
avatar striding toward a central hall.

"You would have been kowtowing and anyway, he is on the imperial pathway. You would get arrested for that."